It Ends With The Begining
by Romansu Neko
Summary: Ash has been on so many adventures...but is death really the end? Some Ash/Misty, kind of sad, story better than summary. xD Rated for somewhat mature ideas.


A very old man with greying hair heaved a huge, tired sigh and carefully lowered himself onto a tree stump, wincing as several pops and cracks erupted from his joints. With a grunt, a pikachu, even older looking than the man, jumped up onto his lap and lay down.

"Hey buddy," The man said with a weak smile and patted his Pokémon friend on the back. The pikachu looked up with weary, yet happy eyes and cooed slightly. The man chuckled, and looked around.

"You remember this place, pikachu?" He asked. The Pokémon lifted his head and looked around, before turning to his owner and nodding.

"Yup…this is the place we first became friends. You hated me before that, didn't you buddy?" The old Ash Ketchum smiled and started to laugh, but it quickly became a hacking wheeze. Pikachu glanced up at him with a worried expression, but soon Ash smiled once again, having re-gained his breath, and scratched pikachu behind the ears, putting him at ease.

"Yup…this was the place." Old man Ketchum continued. "Those were some nasty Spearow, huh? But I'm glad they attacked us. We wouldn't have gotten to be so close. And we wouldn't have met-" Ash trailed off and his eyes glazed over. Pikachu rubbed his head against the old man's stomach. Ash coughed, blinked away the tears, and reached down to grab a small photo album that was sitting next to the tree stump upon which he sat, flipping it open carefully.

"We wouldn't have met _her_." He finished as he ran his hand across a picture. It was a group wedding picture, to be exact. A tear trailed down Ash's cheek as he looked at the people grinning up at him. The groom was in a traditional black tuxedo, and had somehow managed to get his unruly charcoal hair to lie down properly, while a pikachu with a little black bow tie sat upon his shoulder. The woman next to him, the bride, was the image of perfect beauty. Her fiery red hair was pulled back into beautiful braids and curls, upon which a light veil laid like dusty snow. Her pure white dress was shining like polished scales, and hung on her body in such a way that it made her look like a mermaid with a delicately fluttering tail. Behind the wedding couple were many familiar faces both human and Pokémon alike. Delia Ketchum, with slightly grey hair, was standing directly behind Ash, beaming with the happiest smile a person could ever have, while Professor Oak stood next to her, giving the camera a thumbs-up. Between the two were Mr. Mime and a Bulbasaur. Next to Misty was Tracy Sketchit and his Marill, and of course Brock who was too busy drooling over all the beautifully dressed Nurse Joys, Officer Jennies, and the bridesmaids (Misty's sisters Violet, Lily, and Daisy, as well as May and Dawn) to even pay attention to the camera while his geodude floated near his head and vulpix curled around his leg. Among the rest of the crowd were many other trainers that Ash had run into during his early days. Even Gary Oak was there, as well as a few of the gym leaders and Elite Four members from different parts of the world. As Ash began turning the pages of the photo album, the pictures were equally as joyous. There were old pictures of Ash and his friends when they were young. There were family pictures, with Grandma Delia, Ash, Misty, and three young children and lots of Pokémon, followed by more photos of those very kids growing up, (with Pokémon of course,) and a more recent picture of Ash and Misty's oldest daughter holding a child of her own.

After that photograph came several newspaper clippings, the first one being about Ash Ketchum, a young man from Pallet Town becoming the first trainer to capture every Pokémon known to man as well as defeating all gym leaders and Elite Four members from Kanto to Sinnoh and back again. Mostly, though, the clippings were obituaries; one for Professor Oak who had died of a heart failure while out in the field, doing what he loved, researching Pokémon. There was one for his mother, who had died peacefully and happily in her sleep several months after Oak. There was a handful more, just of people and other trainers he and Misty had known. There was a clipping about 'one of the worlds best Pokémon breeders and Kanto's oldest playboy' passing away while watching a bikini contest. (The doctors claimed his body just gave out, but anyone who knew him knew it was probably because of blood loss due to the monstrous nose bleed he was without a doubt having at the time.) Ash had even put in a clipping about two elderly and retired Team Rocket members, (and a Meowth,) who had gone up in their Meowth-shaped hot air balloon one day and landed a few days later, deceased but smiling. Witnesses said that when the three had gone up in the balloon, they had announced "Team Rocket is blasting off for the last time!" and Ash had no problem believing that. Finally, the last clipping was an article about an elderly woman in her seventies leaping into a river with her starmie to save a little boy who was drowning. The little boy made it, but the woman did not. Misty had died a hero and with the name of 'Pallet Town's Mermaid'.

Pikachu cooed in a weary voice, and Ash sighed, wiped his eyes and closed the album and put it down where he got it next to the stump.

"Alright Pikachu, we got one more adventure in front of us, are you ready?" He asked. Pikachu smiled, cooed again, and jumped down with a grunt from his friend's lap. Old man Ketchum groaned as he stood, his old body to worn out to be doing such things, and looked at the forest clearing before him. Laid out in this area was over four hundred Pokéballs, each containing every Pokémon Ash had ever caught in his career as a Pokémon trainer. It had taken him several days with the help of many of those Pokémon to get all the Pokéballs out there, but he had done it. These Pokémon represented his entire life, and now, at the end of the game, they were all laid out where his journey had begun.

"The way I see it," Ash said to Pikachu who sat by his foot. "One good Thunderbolt ought to short-circuit all these balls into opening, wouldn't you say?" He looked down at Pikachu, who in return looked up and nodded.

"Alright Pikachu," Ash said with a grin reminiscent of the grins he had on his face when he was just becoming a new trainer. "I choose you!"

Pikachu took in a deep breath and yelled out with a hoarse voice, "PII-KA-CHUUUU!" He clenched his tiny fists and closed his eyes tight as he let loose an electric attack that shouldn't have been possible for a Pokémon of his age. As the electric bolt hit all the Pokéballs, a bright white light filled the entire clearing and each of the Pokémon were released from the containment unit. Then suddenly the electricity was done, and Ash lifted Pikachu up into his arms just as the small mouse Pokémon, and his very best friend, collapsed.

"Great job Pikachu." He said, and hugged the Pokémon, holding him close. Pikachu sighed and let out a small "Chu…" then closed his eyes. Ash smiled as salty tears fell onto his friend's warm fur. All the now released Pokémon looked around confused for a moment, before turning to Ash for instruction, for he was and forever would be their trainer. After several minutes, Ash looked up from the Pikachu in his arms and glanced lovingly at all of his Pokémon, his head filling with flashbacks of how he caught each and every one and of the journeys he shared with them.

"It's time for your own adventures now, everyone!" He announced, still grinning like a little boy. "I release you all! Go now! Go! Be wild once again! I have no doubt you'll find great trainers again some day!" Ash yelled out, shifting Pikachu so he could hold him with one hand, while the other waved above his head. Ash was laughing, and he was crying, and he was letting each and every one of his carefully caught and trained Pokémon free, to be in the world as wild Pokémon again. The Pokémon looked at him, almost confused, but all at once they understood what was going on. With a smile in their eyes, they all bowed their heads to him, said their goodbyes in their own, unique tongues, and made their individual ways back into the world. Only a few paused. These were some of his first and closest Pokémon, such as his Bulbasaur, the Squirtle who used to be quite the little gangster, Charizard who Ash had worked very hard to gain the respect of. They all approached their trainer, looking confused and sad. Ash shook his head.

"It's time to go now. It's time to help other young trainers on their own adventures." He said, beaming as tears rushed down his face. The Pokémon still looked sad, but grudgingly understood. Bulbasaur looked towards Pallet Town.

"Bulba?" He asked.

Ash laughed.

"Well, maybe you can help my grandchildren on their Pokémon adventures?" He suggested. Charizard nodded, patted Ash's head, and with that the final Pokémon left. Ash lowered his head, his smile smaller now and the tears coming faster than before. He held his hand to his face, and sobbed quietly. His journey was over, and that was hard to accept. All of those Pokémon had been his friends, his family…and now…it was all over. Forever.

"Ash? Ash, what's wrong?" A female voice asked. Ash's brow furrowed, and he wiped his eyes as he looked up. Standing in the clearing now, among hundreds of empty Pokéballs, was a young girl, probably only eleven or so. Her red hair was pulled up into a pony tail on the side of her head. Her yellow tank-top billowed slightly in a breeze that was passing through, and she lifted a hand to adjust her red suspenders that clipped onto a pair of blue shorts. Ash noticed one of her red sneakers had an untied shoelace. In one arm she held a baby Togepi, and the other held something behind her back. Next to her stood a dark skinned and haired boy with squinty eyes.

"You ready to go, Ash? You said you had one more adventure in front of you, right?" The boy asked. The same breeze that made the girl's shirt ripple did the same thing to this boy's brown pants, and he reached into his vest pocket to pull out a Pokémon treat.

"Come on Pikachu! Let's go!" He said kneeling down and holding out the treat. Ash just watched as Pikachu jumped out of his arms and ran to Brock and Misty, taking the treat gratefully and munching on it. This Pikachu couldn't have been a day older than he was the first time he and Ash had met. Ash still didn't move, but he had to wince as his knees ached from standing to long. Misty smiled kindly at him, and approached slowly.

"Come on Ash, it's time to go." She said, and held out the thing she had been holding behind her back; an official red and white Pokémon League Expo hat that had a green L on the front. Ash reached out a tentative hand to take it, and was shocked to see that the hand was pale, smooth, ageless, and had a green fingerless glove on it. Shocked, he looked down at himself. He couldn't help but grin at the jeans, green shirt and unbuttoned blue and white shirt he wore over the green one that he was suddenly wearing. He then noticed that his body had stopped aching. He was young again!

"How-" he began to ask, but Misty just giggled and held his hat out to him again. This time, Ash took it and put it on his head, adjusting it to fit correctly, and from under the brim he grinned at his friends.

"Alright!" He yelled out, throwing a fist into the air. "Let's go!"

Misty laughed her bubbly laugh, and Brock his slightly gravely one as Pikachu took his usual place on Ash's shoulder. Together the friends left, just like they did so many years before, on their next grand adventure.

Author's Note: Ok…as corny as this sounds…I actually cried while writing this. Lame, huh? Ah well. This is how I pictured the final chapter of Pokémon; ending just as it started, because life never really ends for good, does it? When I came up with this I imagined it as a comic, not a fanfic, so if there's any drawing talent out there who is willing to lower themselves enough to draw a comic of this, I'd really love it. xD

Anyway, sorry it's kind of ramble-y and rushed, but I just wanted to spit this out. xD If you guys have any tips on how to better it, I'll re-do it sometime, but otherwise it'll stay like this until I feel like editing it more than I already have. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Pokémon. How horribly sad is that? D: I supposed it would be owned by its creator, yes? Thanks Satoshi Tajiri!


End file.
